Shouts also to the Somerfield Czech lager massive. Ostravar at 89p per 500ml bottle has been my tipple of choice this winter. Tho I note it has recently gone up to £1.09....

Yeah, same here. Still not bad, I suppose. Our local Somerfield is a crappy little garage shop which has recently halved its selection of red wines in order to stock a few crappy chart CDs and DVDs. The amount of shelf space taken up by vino tinto is now somewhat less than half that taken up by bottled water.

Originally Posted by martin

So it's Angel Dust in a can?

Have to confess, I made that up. Although, for all I know, it might be true. But lager yeast really *is* called S. carlsbergensis, fact fans.

The particular strain of Saccharomyces carlsbergensis used in brewing Stella makes unique yeast alkaloids that are metabolised into PCP in the gut, hence the propensity towards aggressive behaviour. 100% FACT.

It would make sense then as to why it seems to be the beverage of choice for so many of the North American junglist massive, I've known.

All lager that comes out of a can, and when you drink it straight out of a can, tastes of metal. That is the point! And the gas is far worse. Gassy, gassy, very gross. Glass tastes nicer.

Stella is rotten, though. Carling is more evil, because it's cheaper, and makes you loutish, and causes you to take your jeans off in laundrettes. It induces crazy behaviour, like skunk.

Grosch absolutely reeks of weed, and is extra gassy. I don't know why people respect it just because of its national origin. It's nasty.

Big bottles of San Miguel are bad, bad things.

Indian lagers in bottles taste really wrong, almost have an undertow of fish guts. I can't quite place my finger on that though; could be personal psychosis.

Leffe in a bottle is a bad idea, but a better option, not quite there with the lovely special glasses you get in pubs. Though I once found a bar in Shepherd's Bush thats served Leffe in pints. I'd just been paid 100 euros for talking about Shakespeare to a coach load of South Korean students for an hour as we stalked through thick traffic. I had a date on the other end and, as the bar also took euros, I spent a lot of my wage on food for us, whiskey for her, and pints of Leffe for me. Disaster! By midnight I'd proposed to her, on my knees, on the steps of a Catholic church, as she tried to drag me back to her house for my own safety. Though she did say "yes" so I'd obviosuly got her very drunk too.

The real evil is Alpa red wine, sold as 2 bottles for a fiver in Clapton and Bow by 24 hr Turkish and Kurdish grocers, that I gorged during 2003 and 2004, and saw me through heartbreak and blog writing, but ripped my guts to pieces, and taught me about the seven levels of hangover.

You have to graduate to Rioja at some point, simply for your health. Rioja caused an Italian giallo obssession, weirdly.

My many moments of alcoholic hell; stages of shame and their repercussions.

The real evil is Alpa red wine, sold as 2 bottles for a fiver in Clapton and Bow by 24 hr Turkish and Kurdish grocers, that I gorged during 2003 and 2004, and saw me through heartbreak and blog writing, but ripped my guts to pieces, and taught me about the seven levels of hangover.

Hah, yeah, I remember happily (or so I told myself) chugging 2-for-£5 bottles of plonk from my local Turkish offie as an undergrad - just couldn't do it these, I fear. Probably for the best.

Originally Posted by oliver craner

You have to graduate to Rioja at some point, simply for your health. Rioja caused an Italian giallo obssession, weirdly.

Yeah, I kind of see lagers as much of a muchness, and tend to drink the 4%-5% abv (ie not the really weak ones) own brand stubbies or whatever.

Guinness is a weird one - I know lots of Americans who've suddenly discovered it and think that it's absolutely the most transcendantly exciting beer experience known to man ("you like Bud?[1] You haven't tried real beer. You haven't tried Guinness. "), rather than an adequate but not particularly exciting mass produced stout...

Obviously given the choice I go for something with twigs floating in the top and either the word 'old' or a mild innuendo in the name, ideally brewed within five miles of the pub...

this 'cold guinness' they have now - when i was in london a couple of years ago, every time my canadian mouth said 'guinness' the bartender would reach for 'cold guinness' and i'd have to say 'no, sorry, i meant the regular kind please.' do you have that tap just for north americans or is 'cold' the new in-thing, like clear colas in the 90s? it tastes wrong.

Canned, I find Polish lager agreable, if rather strong. At the moment (well, not at the moment, it's 8 in the morning) I'm drinking a lot of Sam Adams and Cooper's Sparkling. I had a bottle of Moosehead the other day and it was awful. Also tried Hite, a Korean lager, which was delectable but weak.

I don't get this metallic Stella thing. The Stella in the Coach and Horses is maaaaaagic.

I have been in Canada for a while and am now back in the UK. All I can say is that I am very much looking forward to drinking real, non-fizzy beer served at a sensible temperature. Alexander Keith's IPA is my brew of choice in Canada, but even compared to even the worst pint of bitter here, it sucks. It's true. Stella is disgusting, but sometimes you want a beer that tastes pretty bad and makes you feel used and dirty in the morning. I'm rather perturbed by all the Budvar love, too. Just because it's Czech does not mean it's good. It's actually a pretty awful beer. Personally, I'd rather drink Urquell or any number of Polish beers, like Warka, Zywiec or Okocim (especially if in big bottles). If drinking at home, I'm all about Poland, Dragon Stout and Nigerian Guinness.